


I'll Meet You There

by HopeNotSeen



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: All the Anidala, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I try to keep TROS but make it better (it is hard), Loss of Virginity, Maz is a fairy godmother/matchmaker, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey finds her belonging, Rey is brave enough to take it, Rey wears Ben's Good Boy Sweater, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a villa on Naboo, Somehow Ben Solo survived, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, This might hurt a little or it might be the softest thing ever, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:35:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22515583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeNotSeen/pseuds/HopeNotSeen
Summary: Rey grapples with her loss of Ben on Exegol by isolating herself on a dead world. All hope is lost until, by a strange turn of circumstances, she discovers he is still alive. Together they face the aftermath of the war and begin to build a more hopeful future for themselves and the galaxy.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 16
Kudos: 36
Collections: TROS Reylo Fix-it Fics, Things that make tros hurt a little less





	1. In the Desert

The days sped up and blurred, a constant rise and fall of suns and moons that passed over Rey’s face like silent watchers of her grief. Sometimes she did things, reinvigorating old machines clogged with sand and digging out long forgotten household wares to sustain her presence among the dead. Yet nothing she did could erase that this was Tatooine, a cursed planet. And Rey was a cursed child, forever doomed to haunt places abandoned by people who could have loved her.

At times the ghosts visited her, but they remained silent and aloof, smiling at her as if she should be pleased with herself. It made her want to scream. 

One day, scavenging in a storeroom on the side of the homestead for old rations, she did just that.

“Why didn’t you save him?” she shouted, her voice cracking from disuse. 

A few ancient water vessels on the shelf near her shook and burst, their shards clattering to the ground to punctuate her query.

Sister and brother turned to each other to share a look, their smiles fading only slightly before they turned back to her. 

“Why are you here? Why won’t you speak to me?” Rey pleaded. She blinked, refusing to shed a tear in this dusty place. 

The ghosts faded from sight. She could hardly blame them.

It was days later that the old woman appeared before the homestead.

“Who are you?” she asked.

A sharp pang of something stabbed Rey’s heart, and she scrambled to give an answer to the first living being that had spoken to her since she took up residence there. She took a breath and flashed a crumpled smile.

“I’m Rey,” she said. 

Another pang. This time she saw Finn’s face swim before her eyes.

The old woman gave her a quizzical look. “Rey who?” she asked.

Rey held back a grimace and looked around her. The empty home of a dead family lay at her back, and select ghosts of said family chose this moment to appear to her right. 

“Skywalker,” she said. It just came out. Then she nodded to herself. It was a good name. Though she walked the sands, she was as dead as they. 

“Rey Skywalker.”

...

Days turn into weeks. BB-8 made a mournful inquiry, but she didn’t have the heart to answer it. Instead, she patted his head. 

“Soon,” she said. The hot air that came off the dunes whipped around her and pulled tendrils out of her three buns that stuck to her face. “I’ll go back soon.”

She lied. She had no intention of going back to her friends, although she knew if she didn’t at least send BB-8 back at some point, his owner would have her face on wanted posters throughout the galaxy. 

She spent some time chewing on how to return BB-8 without returning herself, but soon the matter was taken out of her hands. It was evening and she was trudging back to the homestead with parts for an ancient water vaporator when she saw the familiar blue taillight of the Falcon descending just overhead. It landed near her with a hiss of exhaust as the main ramp lowered.

Rey stepped toward the ship with trepidation. Some of that dissolved when she saw the hairy legs of Chewbacca emerge followed by Maz Kanata. She stared at them in surprise.

“There you are, child.” Maz’s voice was warm with welcome.

Chewie stepped toward her and wrapped her in a tight embrace, his voice rumbling in delight at seeing her again.

“How did you find me?” Rey asked, stepping out of Chewie’s arms and gaping at the two of them in equal measure.

“A feeling,” Maz replied. She adjusted her goggles and fixed Rey with a piercing gaze. “That’s all we had to go on since you disabled Beebee-Ate’s tracking signal shortly after leaving your friends on Coruscant.”

Rey bit her cheek. “Yes, I did that,” she admitted. 

“Almost like you wanted to disappear,” Maz continued, her voice just as firm as her look. “Almost like you didn’t want to be found.”

Chewie let out an annoyed grumble and Rey stared at him.

“Why?” she said. “You don’t need me. The war was over. The New Alliance is working. It was time for me to go home.”

“Yet you came here,” Maz said, casting a disparaging look over the half-buried Lars homestead. “An empty monument to the death of an era.”

A spark of anger rose in Rey, though she knew she had thought worse of the place. Someone else criticizing it made her blood boil. 

“Luke and Leia would want me here,” she sputtered. “If they were still alive, they – they would _want_ me.” She snapped her mouth shut and looked at the ground, blinking back tears. She hadn’t mean to say anything like that.

Maz stepped closer and placed a hand on Rey’s arm. “You have no idea, dear,” she said.

Rey looked up at her, mollified by her gentle tone. A twinge of hope, an old stirring awakened in her before she tamped it down viciously. But she could not help to ask. “What do you mean?” 

Chewie rumbled words that made Rey’s heart stop.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“A real home,” Maz said. “It now belongs to you.”

“I can’t accept,” Rey said, shaking her head. She had to stay there. It was fitting, somehow. It was where she belonged. “I have no right to it.”

“What’s the issue, girl?” Maz asked. “You took up this place readily enough. The Skywalkers don’t even own this plot anymore. On Tatooine you’re nothing but a squatter. But the villa on Naboo, that belonged to Ben Solo. And now it belongs to you.”

The sound of his name made Rey’s heart skip a beat and her stomach take a nauseous turn. 

“I – no, that can’t be right. Just because they had no heirs --” just because _he_ had no heirs, her brain corrected, because he is _dead_ – “it makes no sense for me to inherit anything.”

“Chewie, please show her,” Maz barked, gesturing at the Wookiee. 

He pulled a small datapad out of his bag and handed it to Rey. She frowned at him and then peered at the screen.

“Leia Organa-Solo left her son everything,” Maz said, tapping the datapad as if that cleared everything up.

“Of course she did,” Rey said. She tried to tamp down the gaping despair creeping over her at the repeated acknowledgment that Ben was dead, but tears welled in her eyes. “But what does that have to do with me?”

Maz sighed and her expression turned somber. “Here we are again, child. Your eyes tell me you already know. The only thing holding you back from your destiny is your fear to take what is yours.”

She turned to Chewie, who nodded and shuffled back to the Falcon. A few seconds later, the engines roared to life. Then Maz turned back to Rey and took the datapad.

“We are here to deliver the Falcon to you, grant you access to the considerable Organa-Solo fortune, and give you the coordinates to the villa that belongs to you. If you refuse, we will be on our way.” Maz paused and looked out over the dunes, where the twin suns were setting behind the half-buried homestead. “It was you who said Leia would want you to be here. I am here to tell you there is a place she wanted you to be, and it was never here.”

Rey felt her breath catch. She turned her gaze toward the setting suns as well, squinting a bit as the warm air whipped up from the dunes and caressed her face. 

There was much pain to be had here, with the constant reminders of the dead. If she was honest with herself, a part of her felt that she deserved it. She couldn’t save him. She couldn’t save any of them. A part of her wanted to lay down among the desert white walls and let the sand bury her.

But as she looked out at the suns setting, she felt something stirring inside her. Maybe it was just her heartbeat, reminding her that she was not in fact dead yet. 

Maz looked at her as if she could read her every thought. “Come, child,” she said. 

Rey nodded. She threw her prized mechanical part down on the sand and dashed to her makeshift room inside the homestead, gathering her few belongings into her bag and slinging it across her shoulders. Then she followed Maz onto the Falcon, BB-8 beeping happily at her heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, here I am, working through my grief yet again. I'm not sure how many chapters this will end up. At least two, maybe three. I can't seem to move on from here. I just want my babies to have a happy ending


	2. On the Shore

Rey landed just as the sun was setting on this side of the planet, nestling the Falcon down in the middle of a thick grove of trees. She paused a moment and stared out the viewfinder at the lengthening shadows under the boughs. Then she grabbed her single bag of belongings and bounded down the ramp. Once her boots hit the soft bed of needles on the forest floor, she stopped and took a deep breath. The sweet fragrance of living things surrounding her set off a deep ache in her heart. 

Just ahead she spotted a path winding through the trees, lined in grey stone. It seemed made by people with something other than pure practicality in mind, winding this way and that. The sound of leaves rustling in the gentle breeze and the soft calls of birds high above her head as she walked sent a delicious feeling up her spine. Her mouth curved in a crooked smile. 

After a few minutes, the trees opened up and revealed her destination. She froze at the edge of the trees, completely stunned. She had never imagined a place like this, even in her dreams.

A large body of water stretched before her, and before it a beautiful structure with an absurd amount of windows and balconies perched on a magnificent stone cliff. The waters lapping at the shore were turning black in the failing light, but yellow and vibrant pink streaks painted the skies. Tree covered mountains lined its borders. A few boats bobbed along a wooden pier.

This place, this otherworldly sanctuary fit for a queen, now belonged to her.

Rey ran across a green lawn to the stone patio next to the shore and gripped the railing as she drank in the sight of all the water nestled between the mountains. The sighing of the trees and the gentle lapping of the water surrounded her, as if the entire place was alive.

She would have stayed there forever except her stomach began to rumble. She had a few bland rations stuffed in her bag, but she eyed the large villa rising into the sky at her back. She wondered what sort of a kitchen it might have. Peeling herself away from the gorgeous sight outside, she stepped through a large entryway, unlocked the door with her code card and felt for a light control along the wall.

Once illuminated, the entry gave way to an elegant hallway with a tall ceiling and a staircase leading to the other levels. Suddenly Rey felt like an imposition. The natural environment of this planet welcomed her and drew her in, but this strange building, though beautiful, emphasized how out of place she was here. She gripped her code card and raised her chin as she stepped further in.

The long hallway led to many beautiful rooms filled with colorful furniture of a kind Rey had never seen, all with large windows overlooking the lake and mountains from different angles. She paused at each one to stare before moving on to the next. 

Finally, at the end, she entered a kitchen and an attached dining room that revealed the patio she had stood upon outside. Rummaging through the cupboards yielded a surprising amount of edible things considering it must have been unoccupied for years. 

Maz had been insufferably vague about the place on that dusty planet she parted ways with Rey. She wondered when was the last time Leia had been here, or Han and Ben. A painful knot formed in her throat and she stuffed a ration bar down it to shake the feeling, heading for the stairs. 

The second floor held many small sitting rooms and one library, as well as a whole row of bedrooms and adjoining freshers that were unbelievably decadent compared to what Rey had ever seen. She flitted through the rooms, taking them all in, before entering the one at the end of the hall and coming to a cold stop. 

Blue like the sparkling waters of Ahch-To on a clear day painted the walls and the plush carpet, while the soft furniture comprised of shades of turquoise and gold. The softest bed Rey had ever seen dominated the wall to the right, and diaphanous curtains framed the wall-to-wall windows overlooking the lake. 

She stepped inside, threw her bag on a seat near the door and stared at the golden hues dancing in through the windows. Twilight was fast approaching as she had lagged indoors, and she was eager to get back outside. But something else needed to be done first.

Rey pulled her hair out of her three buns and let it cascade down her back. She kicked her shoes off. Then she stripped off her belt, her tabards, her pants and her undershirt, throwing them on the floor in a heap of white. 

From her bag, she pulled out a soft pair of grey leggings and a dark green tunic, which she wrapped around herself and fastened with a brown obi. Parting gifts from Maz, who fretted over Rey wearing the same clothes for months. Rey had found her interference annoying at the time, but now that she was in a new place so beautiful and peaceful, she was grateful to strip off the persona of another life and slip into something comfortable and new. Something that didn’t shout _Jedi! Hero!_ Something that Rey thought might have whispered _woman._

She stepped out into the evening air on the balcony and shivered. It was much more cold and damp than anywhere she had lived besides Ahch-To. She didn’t have heavy garments suitable for the cold. But then she remembered one thing she did have. She slipped back inside and pulled an oversized sweater from her bag. His sweater. She took it with her.

The light was failing quickly, but she sank down onto a soft chair on the balcony and pulled her knees up to her chest, laying her head on the soft fabric of his sweater and inhaling deeply. Then she slipped it over her head and smoothed it down her sides. It was long enough it nearly reached her knees. She wrapped her arms around herself, retreating into her own body heat and the smell that still lingered on the sweater. 

The birds had quieted and silence slipped over Rey like a blanket. She burst into tears. 

She hadn’t given herself permission to mourn after Exegol. She dammed her grief, afraid of drowning in the torrent should she let herself feel. But something about this place, the cool air, the fragrance of the trees and the lake, the fading light and the stars peeking out among the clouds above the water, brought what she had been ignoring to the front of her mind. 

Here in this place, where beauty combined with absolute remoteness, she remembered. She had found an answer to her every longing and then been plunged again into utter solitude, and the contrast between the two had split her soul until it ached. 

Her shoulders shook and she pulled up her knees and buried her face in them, muffling her sobs from the cool night air. 

“Rey?”

She froze. Were there ghosts here too, but these ones could speak? Her heart stuttered and she buried her face further into her arms. She would not look.

“Rey, is it you?” 

Before she could react to the familiar voice, a warm hand enveloped her shoulder and yanked her forward in her seat. She unraveled her limbs and found herself staring into the wide eyes of Ben Solo.

He was crouching before her chair, his face mere inches away from hers, and Rey felt the breath leave her lungs in one swoop at she took in his dark eyes, the tiny cuts scattered about his trembling face, the hair curling gently around his ears, and the dark tunic draped over his shoulders ending in two hands holding on to her. 

One hand remained on her shoulder, while his other hand fell to her knee, gripping her tightly as if any second she might ascend into another plane of existence. Maybe she would.

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. All she could do was stare. 

He did the same, looking into her eyes for a long moment. Then his gaze trailed over her face, and his mouth tightened as he saw her wet cheeks. His brow twitched almost imperceptibly as he looked down at the rest of her. Recognition flickered in his face as he saw the black sweater, fixating on the tear in the front for one moment before catching her eyes again.

“Is it really you?” he said, his voice cracking a little at the end.

Rey’s mind was a blank. She couldn’t muster up a response, but her hands twitched in her lap and then sprang up to grip his wrists as if she might float away on the wind without something grounding her.

She took a shaky breath and then swallowed. “Are – Are you a ghost?” she asked in a small voice, even though it made no sense, even though she could feel his pulse throbbing under her fingers as she dug into his wrists.

“No,” he said. He shook his head slightly, but his eyes never left hers. “I’m here.”

She knew his words should produce something in her, some sort of response. The rational part of her mind was screaming at her to do something, say something. But all she felt was numb, and all she could do was keep reminding herself to breath in and out because she kept forgetting.

Finally, in between uneven gasps, she managed one word. “I--” 

And then she was falling, falling forward, diving towards his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist tightly. He released his grip on her only long enough to allow her forward movement before his arms came down like across her shoulders and crushed her to him.

Her body unraveled into trembling as she buried her face in his neck, breathing deeply and wishing somehow she could fall enough into him that she would never be parted from him again. He held her for long moments in silence as she shook. It wasn’t until she stopped that he spoke.

“How did you find this place?” he murmured, stroking her hair as if he had done it a hundred times before. Rey felt more tears threaten at the familiarity, the sheer intimacy of the gesture.

“Maz and Chewie told me to come here,” she choked out against his shirt. “Gave me the Falcon. Said it was yours and I should have it now. I had nowhere else to go, nowhere --” she cut herself off with a sob.

“What about your friends?” he said. It fell on her ears as a question, not an accusation. “Why aren’t you with them?”

“They--” Another sob interrupted her and she swallowed. “I couldn’t be near them. It was too painful.”

Ben’s hand stilled on her hair and he wrapped his arms around her tighter. She could barely breath but she didn’t care. She could feel his thoughts churning in that place in her mind that was their bond. It had been missing since his death, but she realized now it had sparked anew.

“I couldn’t tell them about you,” she said, overwhelmed with need for him to hear her, to know her mind. “They don’t understand.”

He was silent for a moment and then he patted her shoulder. When he spoke again, his voice was an almost strangled rumble from deep in his chest. “But I do.” 

Slowly, slowly Rey pulled back from him, seeking his face. His arms fell to his side and a flicker of regret washed over his features.

“Yes,” she said. 

She placed her hands on either side of his face. His eyes lit up in expectation, but he didn’t move. She trailed her right thumb across his jaw until it rested against the corner of his lips. She found his eyes from under her own lashes, seeking silent permission and finding it in the way he looked at her. She reached up and pressed her lips to his. 

They were just as soft as the last time, and she felt herself melt against him. He cradled the back of her neck with one hand, drawing her closer. It took a little trial and error to kiss without bumping noses or clacking teeth together, but eventually they found their way to a graceful rhythm that had Rey sighing softly against his mouth. He seemed to like that, though she felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.

After a moment, Ben groaned and grabbed her arms, shifting his body to the side. The sound he made sent a thrill through her body, but then a stab of pain pierced her mind through their bond, and she realized his legs were in agony from kneeling on the stone of the balcony for so long. 

She pulled back and studied him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes trailing over his body looking for any signs of injury. After all, the last time she had seen him, he had been dead. 

He shook his head. “I’m okay. I’m still healing, but --” he gestured toward his leg and Rey felt a surge of anger as her eyes found the brace around the leg he had broken on Exegol. 

Memories of that place and the terror she found there came rushing back. She nearly choked on the revulsion she felt toward herself for not checking him for injuries before. 

Rey pushed herself to her feet and he followed rather slowly, gripping the hand she extended to him to pull him up. Night had completely fallen over the lake house and now there was only the soft twinkling of stars overhead chasing away the shadows that had fallen over his face.

She kept her grip on his hand once he stood, and to her shy delight he seemed fine with it.

“I don’t understand how you are here,” she said. “But let’s go inside.”

He squeezed her hand and nodded, his dark eyes twinkling in the starlight. She turned toward the door and led him in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, definitely looking at about 5 chapters now. A vague plot is emerging, but I'm expecting this to be mostly fluffy and healing moments between Ben and Rey for all our poor souls. :)


	3. In the Water

Rey slept in the blue room that night, curled up in one tiny corner of the bed that nearly swallowed her form. Ben had bid her goodnight and trailed down the hallway for another room before she could think of a tactful way to ask him to stay. She couldn't shake the terrifying feeling that he wasn’t real, that when she woke up in the morning he would be gone without a trace. She didn’t have long to dwell on those thoughts. Her exhaustion overwhelmed her and she was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. 

Sometime during the night, she awoke with a gasp and sat straight up. Her breath was coming in short puffs as if she had been running. It took her a moment to remember where she was. Then the images that had haunted her dreams flooded her mind. 

She climbed out of bed and tiptoed down the hall, her bare feet making no sound on the cool tile. She found a door shut but not latched and coaxed it open. She peered through the darkness toward the bed and sighed with relief when she saw dark hair curled over a pillow and the rise and fall of blankets as he breathed. 

He was here. He was real. He was safe.

She tiptoed back to her room and crawled back into bed. When sleep eluded her, she meditated until dawn.

When the birds outside began to wake and make a ruckus, Rey went downstairs. She mined the kitchen for more portable food and then stepped outside.

The scene that greeted her was just as beautiful as before, but with the clear light of morning to illuminate it. Colorful flowers she didn’t notice last night adorned the plants that ringed the stone patio. The lake itself reflected all sorts of colors from the trees and plants and sky. Rey ran to the patio rim and saw stone stairs leading down to a pebbled beach just below. She skipped down them and put her bare toes in the water that lapped upon the shore. It was freezing, but she didn’t care. 

She glanced back at the house. Not seeing any signs of Ben awake, she turned back to the water and waded in. The ground gave way slowly and she had to walk out quite far before the cold water reached her neck. 

She had never waded in a body of water before. The sensation was wholly new. She felt strangely light and bounced on her toes a little. It was if the water might sweep her away if she lay back and let it take her. Wanting to get her hair wet, she took a few more steps forward. Then she slipped.

Plunged beneath the water, Rey shot her legs forward in an attempt to find the ground again, but she was twisting freely in the strange substance and she couldn’t find the bottom. She felt water dragging her to the side and began to panic. A stream of bubbles released from her mouth before she had the common sense to snap it shut. There was light coming from the right and she had the distinct thought to scramble toward it. 

A pair of hands gripped her from behind and yanked her backwards. Her head broke the surface of the water and she gasped for air. She turned her head and realized the arms that wrapped around her tightly belonged to Ben.

“Easy, easy,” he said, pulling her along toward the shore. 

After a few seconds she felt her heels scrape the bottom and she stood. He released her but kept a hand on her back as she splashed her way out. She tumbled to her knees on the shore, and he collapsed next to her with a grunt. 

“What were you thinking?” he demanded.

Rey coughed and sputtered, trying to clear the sensation of water out of her lungs. She heaved a breath. “I thought it was okay to walk in,” she said, not at all pleased with his tone. “I didn’t know it was gonna suck me under and try to murder me.”

“If I hadn’t looked out the window, I wouldn’t have even known you were out here,” he said. “Next time you might kill yourself, will you at least give me warning?”

Rey flushed. “I’ve never been in water like that. I didn’t know it was dangerous.”

“Exactly,” Ben retorted. “You didn’t know. So you shouldn’t have been sticking your nose in something you didn't know. You could have asked me, Rey. You could have thought about it a little before jumping right in.”

Rey looked away toward the far shore, anything to avoid Ben’s face. She felt tears pricking at her eyes, and she blinked furiously to keep them from falling. 

She didn’t like being scolded like a child. But a part of her felt he was right. She was nothing but an ignorant sand rat from a backwater planet. She had seen little of the galaxy and understood even less. The idea of her living on Naboo was a joke. She didn’t belong. 

A warm hand clasped her shoulder and she looked back at him. His eyes were honey brown in the sunlight. He sighed. “I was afraid,” he said. 

Rey’s anger melted away, replaced by a strange warm feeling. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I won’t go in it again.”

Ben shook his head, and little flecks of water sprinkled out of the ends of his hair as he did so. “You will go in again,” he said, “When I teach you how to swim.”

Rey stared at him. “Swim? Humans can swim? I thought only water species on other planets could--” 

He laughed. “Yes, humans can swim.”

She jumped up as if the lesson should begin right now and stared at him in anticipation, but he didn’t move. He only looked up at her, a small smile on his lips. She frowned.

“Why not now?” she asked.

He grimaced and gestured toward his leg. “I’m not quite up to it right now.”

Rey gaped and looked at his leg. The brace he wore was gone. Of course he didn’t sleep in it. If he ran down here to save her with an injured leg and no brace…

She knelt by his leg and ran a hand over it carefully. “Did you hurt it again?” she asked.

He leaned back on his elbows and bent his leg slowly. Pain washed over his face at the movement. When Rey brushed a spot below his knee, a hiss of breath escaped him.

“It was shattered in several places on Exegol,” he said. “When Maz and Chewie found me, they took me to local healers. There was little they could do but bind it and let it heal.”

Rey frowned. “They found you on Exegol? How? You disappeared.”

“They found me on Ahch-To,” he said quietly, as if lost in thought. “Just where Luke told them I would be.”

She chewed on that for a minute before responding. “Will you tell me more now?” she asked.

His lips twitched into a smile. “Help me inside and I’ll tell you everything.”

It was no surprise to Rey that he was hard to support. She knew he was a big man. But it wasn’t until she had to pull him to his feet and duck under his arm so he could lean on her as they hobbled inside that she realized just how large he was. His loose shirt seemed incredibly thin when wet, and she could feel every muscle tensing beneath her fingers and against her cheek as she helped him up the stairs. 

He winced when he put his foot down wrong on the last step, and when she jerked her head up to search his face in concern, the breath nearly left her at how close his lips were as he met her gaze. She looked back down at the ground, her cheeks flushing, chastising herself for having such thoughts when he was clearly in pain.

They entered the first sitting room they found off the main hallway and he threw himself onto a couch. Rey collapsed next to him. She trailed a hand over his leg, and then she knew what she had to do.

“Let me help you,” she said. He gave her a small nod. She closed her eyes and just breathed. She felt the light of the Force pulsing just beyond her vision. She drew on it, filled herself with it, and directed its power towards his leg beneath her hands. She could feel the breaks in bone, the tears in flesh, the inflammation. She coaxed her power through him to knit things together. Much of the inflammation and fleshly wounds disappeared. Only small cracks in the bone remained, resistant to her healing. 

When she opened her eyes again, he was watching her. They were both silent for a moment, catching their breath. Then Ben draped his arm over her shoulder and drew her close. She flushed with delight and leaned on his chest, breathing him in. 

“Better,” he said. “I should be able to walk on it again. Thank you.” 

She nuzzled closer in response.

“Exegol and Ahch-To are linked in the Force,” he said. His voice was a rumble against her ear. “Luke knew about this for years. It was one of several reasons he chose to retreat to Ahch-To. He knew it could be used by Force users for transformation, and he wanted to guard its entrance.”

Rey sat up and tilted her chin so she could watch him without breaking their embrace. 

“When I brought you back to life,” he continued, his voice growing softer as he looked down at her, “I unknowingly activated the power in that place. It sunk its claws into me and carried me away. I woke up alone, cold, naked in the dark. I was laying in a cave in the depths of Ahch-To. I don’t know how long I was there, but I couldn’t move. I thought I would die there.” 

He cut off. Rey’s vision had begun to blur with tears. She blinked them back and swallowed. He trailed a hand over her cheek and then continued. 

“But I didn’t. I saw lights descending from the sky. It was my dad’s ship. Chewie and Maz were there, and they brought me to the surface. I stayed there for many days until I was strong enough for a journey. Then they brought me here.”

Rey frowned. “So you never died? You – you traveled somewhere else?” 

Ben sighed and looked out the window opposite the couch they were sitting upon. “I don’t fully understand it. The little I’ve told you was what Luke told Maz. Maybe in some of the ancient texts he collected there is more.”

Rey snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his torso and delighting in how solid and warm he felt. “Maz knew you were here,” she said after a moment. “When she brought me. I can’t believe she didn’t just tell me instead of being so cryptic.”

“Maybe she thought it was better for you to see yourself,” he said, trailing a hand down her arm in a way that made her shiver. “Would you have believed her?”

Rey snorted. “No. I probably would have beat her with my staff if she suggested it. I was lost when you died.”

For a minute, Rey wondered if she had revealed too much. Their relationship was oddly undefined. They had kissed. They stole close moments like this. No one in the galaxy could understand her or make her feel the way Ben did. She assumed he felt the same. But she didn't really _know._ They both danced around allusions of what they felt, what they were. They spoke of hand-taking and connections, but never what those things meant.

Luckily, Ben didn’t seem to think what she said was weird. He continued to stroke her arm and brought his other hand to her cheek again. She felt her heart stop as his thumb traced her jaw and brushed her bottom lip. She closed her eyes at the sensation and then his lips were on her. He kissed the corner of her mouth before sucking her bottom lip and pressing his tongue inside. She leaned against his chest and let him in. 

After a few moments he broke their kiss. “We’ll both catch sick if we don’t get dry,” he said.

Rey nodded and they parted ways to change.


	4. In the Light of Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads-up for readers. I changed the rating to be explicit and this is the first chapter where it has earned that rating. I've never written anything explicit so here goes nothing! :) Admittedly there's approximately zero plot so far. I do have an idea for a plot that I may or may not introduce but for now Rey and Ben just really seem to want to do nothing but talk and kiss and see where that leads them. LOL I don't have the heart to stop them.

They spent the rest of the day talking, taking in the view from outside, and exploring the house. Ben revealed that he had never been there in his youth, and as far as he knew his mother and father had never visited either. It had been abandoned since his grandmother died. Its exceptional upkeep and stocked kitchen was due to the caretakers that still visited from the royal administration on a regular basis, keeping the place ready for visitors. 

“Are we allowed to be here?” Rey asked, her eyes wide at the thought of some Naboo princess sweeping in while she was kissing Ben on the couch.

“It belongs to my family,” Ben said. “No one would come here except us. But the Naboo take gratitude to the royal servants very seriously. As long as Padme’s descendants live, this place will be looked after.”

In the afternoon they took stock of the kitchen.

“Not bad,” Ben said, “But we’ll need more soon. I saw a town nearby when we flew over. We should visit and get more supplies soon.”

After several more hours of doing very little but talking and enjoying each other’s company, Rey surprised herself with cracking a huge yawn. The sun was going down, and she didn’t think she could stay awake any longer. 

Ben attempted to drop her off in the blue room and retreat back to the other bedroom to rest. But Rey gripped his hand so hard it probably hurt and stared up at him, too focused on keeping her trembling chin under control to get words out. 

“What is it?” he asked, his voice so soft it made her knees feel week. His brows furrowed in concern. 

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she could say anything. “Couldn’t you – couldn’t you sleep beside me?”

Surprise flickered across his features. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

She took a deep breath. “I sometimes dream. Not good things. I think I would sleep better with you nearby.”

In truth Rey hadn’t slept a full night since Exegol. She always dreamed about the events of that day. Ben often died, but sometimes it was just the laugh of Palpatine or the lightning shooting from his hands that caused her to wake up in a cold sweat, heart pounding. Sometimes she was calling out to the Jedi to be with her, and no one came. Sometimes Ben himself came, but then she had to watch him murdered in front of her eyes instead of thrown into a pit. 

He nodded his head and followed her inside. After a few more awkward negotiations, he climbed into the bed next to her and lay down a respectable distance away. 

Rey fell asleep almost immediately to the soothing sound of his breathing. 

For the first time in months, her sleep was uninterrupted by terrible dreams. When she awoke in the first pale light of dawn and blinked her eyes open, she felt a rush of gratitude. But then she felt something else. 

Ben had moved closer to her in the night. His arms were wrapped around her and he crushed her back to his chest. She could feel his breath, softly panting in her hair. Against her thigh, she felt him moving. The hard length of what she assumed must be his cock pushed into her leg.

Rey knew very little about sex, having no one to explain it to her when she was growing up. All she knew were the snatches she gleaned from seedy situations she observed during her childhood on Jakku. Not the kind of thing she wanted to rely on to deal with the strange feelings blossoming inside her since meeting Ben. Desire and the pleasure that came from her own body, however, she knew from her lonely nights in the desert.

A soft sigh escaped his lips and he shifted against her. His obvious need set off a delicious swoop low in her belly. She squeezed her thighs together, noticing the ache building up there. Her cheeks turned hot. 

He was clearly asleep, and not exactly responsible for what was going on. Maybe she should wake him. But then he moved against her just so and his one hand left the bed in front of her to trail down her side to her hip. She had to bite her lip to stop herself from reacting. She could feel a delicious throb begin between her thighs. 

Surrounded by his scent and the warmth of his body, with his soft breathing in her ear, Rey gave in to the fantasies she’d had of him over the years. She imagined him flipping her over so she faced him, kissing her and parting her legs, and doing something about the ache she felt. Her own breathing quickened and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

Her fingers twitched. Her hand crept toward the waistband of her pants and then slipped inside. Her cold fingers soothed the ache for a moment, but her quick and practiced movements brought it back immediately. She felt her face flush as tiny wet sounds filled her ears and her breathing became erratic. She closed her eyes and imagined it was Ben touching her there. 

The sound of his breathing in her ear stopped. His arms tensed around her. He was awake.

She let out a tiny gasp. She couldn’t believe she was doing this in front of him, but he was holding her so close and clearly turned on himself, and she was too far gone to stop. His fingers began tracing gentle circles on her hip and she felt him plant a soft kiss to her neck just below her ear. 

She scrunched her face as she neared her release. Her hand started to cramp up and her other hand fisted in the sheets in front of her. Ben resumed a gentle rocking motion into her and kissed her hair and neck while gripping her hip.

“That’s it,” he breathed into her ear. “Very good.”

His praise pushed her over the peak and she choked out a soft cry as her body spasmed around her fingers. Her toes curled. She turned and buried her face in the sheets while she shuddered.

It was a long moment before she moved again. When her breath had resumed a more normal pace, she rolled and pressed her back once more into him. He responded by wrapping his arms tighter around her and kissing the top of her head. She pulled her hand slowly out of her pants and lay it limp on the bed next to her.

“Ben,” she whispered. 

“Hm?”

She reached behind her to smooth her hand down his hip and pull him closer to her. He let out a small gasp as his cock once again pressed into her thigh.

“Do you want this?” she asked, her cheeks turning hot again.

He inhaled deeply and buried his face in her hair. “Yes.”

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. “You can use me,” she murmured, fumbling for words. She pressed back against his hips, hoping he would get the idea. Some part of her wanted to wrap her hand around his cock and see if she could bring him to pleasure as she did herself, but she had no idea how to do it. “If- if you can,” she stammered.

He didn’t respond for a moment. Then he shifted, taking the arm out from under her and scooting down. He trailed his lips down her neck and planted a kiss on her shoulder. He grasped her hip again and started to move. 

He pressed his clothed erection between her thighs and rocked into her. His breath was ragged against the back of her neck. Rey ran her one free hand over his hip, over his arm and across his hand, frustrated with her inability to do anything to help. He let out a soft whimper that curled down her spine.

“Touch you,” he mumbled. 

Rey nodded vigorously. “Yes.”

He rose and pushed her over until she was nearly flat on her belly. He shifted his hips so his cock pressed between the bed and her leg. Then he dragged his hand up between the bed and her stomach and covered one breast. Rey gasped at the sensation. He buried his face in the back of her neck and curled his body over her before beginning to rock again. 

The motion became erratic. Then his body stiffened. He let out a soft cry he muffled in her hair, before collapsing over her. 

Rey closed her eyes and breathed into the sheet beneath her, relishing the heavy feeling of his body resting on her. She could feel his heart beating wildly against her spine. After a few breaths, he pushed himself up from her and then she felt his hands flipping her over, just as they had in her fantasy. She rolled to her back and stared up at him.

His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were bright. His curled hair formed a messy halo around his face. His eyes were serious, almost sad, but she could see a small smile curving at the corner of his lips. He searched her face before leaning down and kissing her, a soft and searching kind of kiss. Then he lay down next to her again, nuzzling his face in the space between her neck and shoulder. 

“Good morning,” he said.

Rey grinned. 

Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. Tears of absolute, complete happiness. Lingering embarrassment over what just occurred dissolved into contentment. She felt her eyes drift closed again and the steady sound of his breathing lulled her into a light sleep again. 

They awoke again sometime later. The light of true morning was streaming in from the huge windows to their right. Rey was the first to crawl out of bed and head toward the refresher. After she showered and dressed anew, she found Ben in the kitchen. He was also freshly showered and his damp hair clung to his neck. 

“Pancakes?” he asked as he poured a thick liquid into a pan. 

Rey took a seat at a nearby counter and nodded. “Anything. I’m starving.”

He grinned in response. “Eat up. You’ll need the energy. Today we hike into town.”


End file.
